Reviewed by Magdalena Ball 10 Steps to Creating Memorable Characters A Writer’s Workbook by Sue Viders, Lucynda Storey, Cher Gorman, Becky Martinez Lone Eagle Paperback: 176 pages, November 2006, ISBN: 978-1580650687, 1580650686 The great agent and author Noah Lukeman states…
Category: Book Reviews
Book Reviews
A review of The River Baptists by Belinda Castles
Castles creates mood skilfully, as in the opening chapter where Danny and his father are fishing in their little boat. The blood on his father’s t-shirt from the worms and other creatures is symbolic of the man and his relationship with his family. The details of the community and the people who live there produce a sleepiness that is tinged with menace. There is much that moves under the surface of the water, occasionally bursting out to wreck havoc.
A review of The Court Poetry of Chaucer by James Dempsey
With the original easily available, the reader can with only slight adjustment connect to the original. If Dempsey’s version is a crutch, it is a comfortable and useful one. The versification is consistent and its occasional use of phrases with a modern topical allusions is amusing, a kind of sly wit that Chaucer would appreciate.
A review of Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
To read Paradiso by itself is a novel experience and well worth the special attention that it requires. This translation is exceptional and among so many stands out as particularly splendid and true.
A review of: Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean by Douglas Wolk
Overall, Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean is a book that is subtle, stimulating and enjoyable to read. It is certain to deepen your appreciation of what is a still-emerging medium (as Wolk says, “The Golden Age [of Comics] is Right Now”).
A review of Chess Informant 99 by Zdenko Krnic (ed)
A review of The Great Big Show by Justin Lowe
It’s as if the characters function as a kind of strophe and antistrophe — the male voices pressing on with the war and the females analysing, wondering, and in their own way, pulling back even as they participate. The tension between these dispersed voices drives the narrative forward and helps give the story a drama which goes beyond the action on the battlefield.
A review of Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero by Lucy Riall
Riall sees the mythos of Garibaldi as an effective if unrealistic public relations tool. His frequent intransigence and independence was as valuable as if he had been the brainless tool of Cavour, Cavour’s successor, or Vittorio Emanuele. In the pursuit of her message she inundates the reader with trivia, which, however relevant, could have been more effectively presented.
A review of The Illustrated Life of Pi by Yann Martel
It would be unlikely that you do not have a copy of Life of Pi already. The new edition is such a happy event that you should give your copy away and replace it with this one.
A review of Unknown Man Number 89 by Elmore Leonard
This is a crime novel that has some fine deadpan humour, a poignant romance – Ryan falls for a young woman who has problems with the bottle – and also has elements of the Western. Ryan is a kind of latter-day bounty hunter.